In many Google apps and other third-party software, you see a spinning circle appear when you pull down from the top of the screen to refresh content. This pleasant little indicator is a sign that something is loading in the background, but you have permission to keep scrolling around while you wait.

Check the YouTube app on your phone or tablet, user interface aficionados - you might spot something new. Like the other official Google apps have been doing for a while (quite a while), YouTube is getting a pull-to-refresh animation for relevant pages. It doesn't seem to be tied to any particular version of the app or of Android, and in fact we've only seen it active from one reader so far, so it seems like it might be a server-side switch.

The animation allows users to scroll up to the top border of the interface and beyond on the Home tab, channel pages, subscription pages, and more, with the familiar circular arrow icon indicating a refresh.

Despite its current tough situation, Opera keeps on forging forward with its software and applications, adding features and improving on existing ones. Case in point: in the Android app's beta channel's latest update, there's a slew of small new options and enhancements all across the board.

The change you may like the most is the addition of pull to refresh, which is a much easier way to reload the page than haunting for a small refresh button to tap. While your page loads, you may also notice that the progress bar blue line animation has been improved with a pulsing rhythm.

Like most tech blogs, Android Police uses WordPress. And since the web interface still leaves a lot to be desired on phones and tablets, we rely on the WordPress app to make quick adjustments when we're out and about. The latest update to the official app isn't exactly revolutionary, but anyone who uses it on a regular basis will probably find a few things to like.

First: the refresh button is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to its designer. Instead, users can now refresh the list of blog posts and drafts by dragging down on the list, a la Gmail and lots of other trendy apps.

In a detailed post to Google+ this morning, Googler Virgil Dobjanschi announced new and enhanced features for the Google+ Android app. They'll be arriving in an update to version 4.1, set to go live today. According to Dobjanschi, the changes are focused on additions and revisions suggested by end users, and looking at the list, we're inclined to believe him.

First of all: no more Google+ Messenger. Ha-lay-freakin-lujah. Since the new Hangouts app has effectively replaced G+ messenger on the web, the mobile version is following suit, meaning you won't ever have to see that extraneous icon in your app drawer again.

Every few months, Google experiments with a new design, widget, or pattern by injecting it into one of its most important apps. Preceding I/O 2013, we were treated to a steadystream of updates including the new Navigation Drawer. As we have seen, the latest GMail app joined the herd, but also gained a tweaked version of the now common pull-to-refresh gesture. While Google was kind enough to supply us with a library for the Navigation Drawer, anybody hoping to add the newly-stylized refresh is left to fend for themselves. Fortunately, the developer community is filled with people who can't wait for El Goog to get caught up.

Facebook for Android got one step closer to being a viable replacement for its online counterpart today, after receiving an update today that brought several anticipated sharing, privacy, and interface changes.

Users now have access to the same privacy controls for posts as in Facebook's online interface and can tag friends and places as well. The update also brings improved messages and notifications, fixes for performance issues, and a couple of interface changes including redesigned profile and group walls, and a swipe interface for photo browsing. The developers have also added some other subtle enhancements such as pull-to-refresh capabilities iOS users are already so used to.